Citing the need for financial responsibility and a desire to conserve resources for the 40th anniversary season, Victory Gardens Theater artistic director Chay Yew announced Monday that the venerable non-profit will have a 2013-14 subscription season of just three shows.

The new season opens in November with "Appropriate," a play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that will be directed by Gary Griffin. The drama, which deals with the disposition of an estate in Arkansas, will premiere at the Humana Festival at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville this spring, also under Griffin's direction.

In March, Yew will direct the world premiere of "The Gospel of Lovingkindness" by the Chicago writer Marcus Gardley, a piece set in Bronzeville in 1996 and dealing with the future of that community.

Yew also announced the formation of a new advisory board made up of Luis Alfaro, Nilo Cruz, Eve Ensler, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, David Lindsey-Abaire, John Logan, Craig Lucas, Sandra Oh, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jose Rivera, Anika Noni Rose, Sarah Ruhl, Jeanine Tesori, Paula Vogel, George C. Wolfe and B.D. Wong. That's a formidable array of theatrical luminaries, although none are based in Chicago.

In an interview Sunday, Yew said that he planned to return to the standard five-show season, a staple at Victory Gardens for decades, for the 2014-15 season.

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